Freshman Adonis Thomas leads Memphis Tigers over Lipscomb

Memphis' Adonis Thomas (right) works for a layup against Lipscomb's defenders (left to right) Malcolm Smith, Damarius Smith, and Marvin Williams during first half action at FedExForum.

After back-to-back losses to Murray State and Louisville, the University of Memphis needed to get the bleeding stopped Monday night against visiting Lipscomb with a rematch against nationally ranked Georgetown looming later this week.

And though the Tigers' 85-75 victory over the Nashville-based Bison before 16,162 at FedExForum may have covered the wound, it didn't do much to heal it.

Less than two minutes remained Monday when Memphis (6-4) was finally able to put away a Lipscomb squad that hadn't won a game on the road and was picked to finish sixth this preseason in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Yes, Memphis was good again offensively, like it had been in a 95-87 loss to No. 4 Louisville two nights earlier.

Freshman Adonis Thomas, starting for the second straight game at power forward, led six Tigers in double figures with 18 points and tallied nine rebounds.

Sophomore guard Will Barton continued his early season brilliance, finishing with 16 points (on 7-of-13 shooting), nine rebounds and a career-high tying six assists.

The Tigers shot 56.9 percent from the field, were unselfish (18 assists on 33 made baskets) and took solid care of the ball (nine turnovers).

But that's where the good ended and the bad began.

"I'm a team guy and you gotta win the right way," Barton said. "No disrespect to Lipscomb. They played hard. They played well. They competed.

"But, I mean, there's no way, man, it should be a single-digit game (in the closing minutes); going back and forth, trading buckets with them and stuff like that -- that's not a good sign. But hopefully we pick it up and get ready for Georgetown (on Thursday)."

After trading buckets with Lipscomb (6-7) early on, it looked as if Memphis might be on its way to the blowout win most expected. Sophomore guard Joe Jackson nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an 18-5 Tigers scoring run which Barton closed out with a layup that gave Memphis a 30-20 lead.

But Bison junior guard Deonte Alexander, taking advantage of a Memphis defense that has consistently failed to close out on perimeter shooters, answered with one of Lipscomb's 10 3-pointers on the night. Alexander finished 4-of-9 from deep and senior guard Jordan Burgason made 4-of-6 long-range attempts, helping Lipscomb shoot 40 percent from the arc.

"Any suggestions on defense? Fire away," a baffled coach Josh Pastner said as he opened his postgame press conference. "We can put the ball in the basket. That's not an issue.

"We gotta guard guys. We got hurt on some penetration, but the biggest thing that comes back to bite you in the butt is second-chance points."

Memphis did win the overall rebounding battle (39-27), but it allowed Lipscomb to score 21 second-chance points off 13 offensive rebounds. While Thomas and Barton did their part on the glass, Tigers post players Tarik Black, Ferrakohn Hall and Wesley Witherspoon combined to grab just seven rebounds.

Witherspoon played just three minutes and junior forward Stan Simpson didn't make it into the game. Though Black was solid offensively, he was visibly frustrated after picking up his second foul while trying to rotate and defend dribble penetration late in the first half. After getting an earful from Pastner, Black covered his head with a towel on the bench.

"I was frustrated with myself," Black said. "I'm not playing up to par the way I would like to. A win is something we'll accept, but we should have played some better basketball."

Lipscomb forward Martin Smith's 3-pointer with 4:44 left capped a 13-2 Lipscomb run, slicing what had been a 14-point Memphis advantage (71-57) with eight minutes to go to 73-70 with 4:44 left.

But Barton split a pair of free throws, then nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:41 left to help Memphis fend off the Bison, who were coming off an 89-65 loss at No. 22 Murray State on Thursday.

Memphis doesn't have much time to fix its problems defensively and on the defensive glass before it heads to Washington to face the Hoyas (9-1), who beat the Tigers 91-88 in overtime last month in the fifth-place game of the Maui Invitational.

"Even in the games that you do play well, there's still things you can do better," Jackson said. "So a win is a win to me in this situation because we'd lost two in a row. A win puts you right back to where you need to be. It doesn't matter if it's one, two points -- we can get better as a team and work harder."